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Sign of the Times

Life goes on. And
like a character in a book, we move on from one chapter to another. The ending
of a chapter means the beginning of another chapter; it’s the sign of the times.
We are all the main character of our own life. And every each of us plays as a
minor character in someone else’s. Just like those people who come and go in
our life, we pass by in another people’s life too. Some are just a passerby.
Some stay in the background. Some are coming back at times. Some leave for good
when their role is over. Some can make some imprints. Some just go with the
wind. During their stay, whether it was for only a short time or a long one,
they weren’t able to decide by themselves how impactful their role is in our
life. It’s not up to them; it’s up to us since we are the main character of our
life. And they don’t have obligation either to take responsibility towards it.
Perhaps, that’s just the reason why the universe has sent them to be a minor
character in our life, whether to be a lesson or a blessing, or just some
meaningless passing wind.

“Just stop your
crying, it’s a sign of the times. We gotta get away from here. Just stop your
crying; it’ll be alright. They told me that the end is near, we gotta get away
from here.” –Harry Styles, Sign
of the Times

I still remember that
when I heard this song for the first time, I could not guess that Harry Styles
is the singer of this song. It was surprising! And when I knew, I felt grateful
somehow that he bravely took his steps out from the boy group that has raised
his name, One Direction, and was finally going solo. “Sign of the Times” is
Styles’ debut solo single, released on April 7th 2017, with a music video
directed by Woodkid released on May 8th 2017. The song was later served as the
lead single for Styles’ self-titled debut studio album, “Harry Styles”, which
was released on May 12th 2017. The soft rock track was written by Styles
himself along with Jeff Bhasker, Mitch Rowland, Ryan Nasci, Alex Salibian, and
Tyler Johnson. Lyrically, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Styles stated that he was inspired by a mother who
was giving a birth to a child and there was a complication during the birth.
The mother was told by the doctor that the child was fine but she wasn’t going
to make it. And “Sign of the Times” was written from a point of view of the
mother, who had only five minutes to tell her child to go forth and conquer.
And yes, as Styles also said, most of the stuff that hurts us about what’s
going on at the moment is not politics, but rather the fundamentals; which come
from the inequality of rights, for everyone, all races, sexes, and everything.

"Sign of the Times" single cover | source: en.wikipedia.org

Hard times come and
go as we live. However, we just can’t seem to get used to it. Every time it
comes, then and now, people are breaking down and cry. And facing an ending of
anything could be one of those hard times. When one thing has to come to an
end, then it just has to be it. Moreover when it comes to life; we never know
when our time will come, or people around us that are significant for us. “Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the
times. Welcome to the final show, hope you’re wearing your best clothes. You
can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky. You look pretty good down here,
but you ain’t really good.” We cannot beg for some more time. It’s just the
sign that our time has come. And though we have to say goodbye, life goes on
for other people around us. It’s still a long way to go for them. “Just stop your crying, have the time of
your life. Breaking through the atmosphere, and things are pretty good from
here. Remember, everything will be alright. We can meet again somewhere,
somewhere far away from here.”

People break down and
cry in front of harsh destiny they have to face. Sometimes it’s because they
know that it’s the sign of the times that something eventually has come to an
end. However, this isn’t the first time we say goodbye to something that we
hold most dear. And we know that it’s not going to be the last time we have to
do that. That is just the way life is. We face it when it’s time. And
eventually, everything will be just alright again, like it has always been. “Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the
times. We gotta get away from here. Just stop your crying; it’ll be alright.
They told me that the end is near, we gotta get away from here.” Most of
the times, the saddest part of saying goodbye is realizing that we didn’t have
much time to have a heart-to-heart conversation. And we are left to wonder
whether we will ever learn. All we know that we have said goodbye before, but
it always feels hurt no matter what. “We
don’t talk enough. We should open up, before it’s all too much. Will we ever
learn? We’ve been here before. It’s just what we know.”

Hard times are
reminder from the universe that as a human, we must be humble. We live in the
arrogance of the self and most of the time we are consumed by our own ego. And
hard times exist to remind ourselves that we all eventually will die and leave
this world. And sometimes we are too busy living while forgetting what it feels
like to really feel alive; to learn and contemplate ourselves in the process. “We never learn, we’ve been here before, why
are we always stuck and running from the bullet? We never learn, we’ve been
here before, why are we always stuck and running from your bullets, the
bullets?” Yet no matter how many times those hard times have come before,
we can never seem to learn. And we are left to wonder: why are we always stuck?
Why are we always running from the bullets? Perhaps it’s time to lay down our
armor and rest assured. Perhaps it’s time to stop running. It isn’t the first
time, and it won’t be the last time either. Hard times will always come. Yet it
won’t last forever either. It’s just the sign of the times.

"Harry Styles" album cover | source: en.wikipedia.org

Life is just like
that. We meet, we know, we feel, we think, and we say goodbye. Things are
passing. And nothing lasts forever. As if we were a main character of a novel,
we move on from one chapter to the next. Some supporting characters are staying
with us, while some other are being left behind. It’s alright to cry for the
farewell; just don’t take too much time crying for them. Life goes on. And a
hard time will always come. However, that is just the way life is. People are
learning their lesson and realize their blessing from their hard time. That way
they learn to get up to build their good time. And the turnover of a chapter is
just a sign of the times. And the time is the only thing we have as well as the
only thing we can’t own. The ending of a chapter is a sign of the beginning of
another chapter. And the goodbye is a sign of another meeting. Things are not
always good, yet things are not always bad either. It’s all come down to the
regression to the mean. When it’s time to go, then just go with an open heart.
It’ll be alright. It’s just a new chapter.

“We don’t talk enough.
We should open up, before it’s all too much. Will we ever learn? We’ve been
here before. It’s just what we know.” –Harry Styles, Sign of the Times

Just stop your crying,
it’s a sign of the times, welcome to the final show, hope you’re wearing your
best clothes

You can’t bribe the
door on your way to the sky, you look pretty good down here, but you ain’t
really good

We never learn, we’ve
been here before, why are we always stuck and running from the bullets, the
bullets?

We never learn, we’ve
been here before, why are we always stuck and running from your bullets, the
bullets?

Just stop your crying,
it’s a sign of the times, we gotta get away from here, we gotta get away from
here

Just stop your crying,
it’ll be alright, they told me that the end is near, we gotta get away from
here

Just stop your crying,
have the time of your life, breaking through the atmosphere, and things are
pretty good from here

Remember, everything
will be alright, we can meet again somewhere, somewhere far away from here

We never learn, we’ve
been here before, why are we always stuck and running from the bullets, the
bullets?

We never learn, we’ve
been here before, why are we always stuck and running from the bullets, the
bullets?

Just stop your crying,
it’s a sign of the times, we gotta get away from here, we gotta get away from
here

Stop your crying,
baby, it’ll be alright, they told me that the end is near, we gotta get away
from here

We never learn, we’ve
been here before, why are we always stuck and running from the bullets, the
bullets?

We never learn, we’ve
been here before, why are we always stuck and running from your bullets, the
bullets?

We don't talk enough,
we should open up, before it's all too much

Will we ever learn?
We’ve been here before, it’s just what we know

Stop your crying,
baby, it’s a sign of the times, we gotta get away

We
got to get away, we got to get away, we got to get away, we got to get away